"Good." And then the corn is ready, and the eggs - "If you don't like this, don't eat it, and I'll make you some potatoes instead," Daisy says of the corn when she offers Rhoda the plate.

Rhoda nods gravely as she takes the plate, and then moves over to the table. She starts eating. She finds she doesn't like the corn as much as potatoes, but she doesn't dislike it.

As she eats, she's watching Pradnakt work.

Pradnakt appears not to notice.

After a moment, Rhoda does in fact get distracted from eating watching Pradnakt work. (She really likes mechanics and engines, and Pradnakt obviously knows what she's doing.)

That's fine, apparently; at any rate neither Pradnakt nor Daisy comments on it.

The stew starts smelling good after half an hour or so, and Pradnakt takes another few minutes to finish up what she's doing before signaling Daisy to bring it over.

The stew does smell good. And reminds Rhoda that she does in fact have food she is still hungry enough to eat more of, so she goes back to that.

Good.

"After lunch, do you want to come help me with the animals, or would you rather watch the sunset with Pradnakt?"

That's a hard question. Because the sunset is very pretty. But she also wants to learn how to help with the animals. She's silent for a little bit, finishing her food.

"Help you with the animals?" she says eventually.

"All right." And when the dishes are done they can do just that. First the chickens; they're already in their pen, so all that needs to be done is refilling their food and water dishes and closing them in for the night. Next, the goat, Jasmine; her indoor pen is set up with the scraps from breakfast and lunch, her own pelleted food, and a refill of her water trough, and then Daisy goes out back to call her in.

Rhoda helps where she can, watching thoughtfully. When Daisy goes out to call Jasmine in, she picks up one of the pellets, rolling it over in her fingers. If this is food, it doesn't make sense why they are wasting so many resources on her? (She is not, on the whole, complaining, because she's liked having something that actually had flavour, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to her.)

Daisy's back quickly, talking soothingly to the animal in Basic and redirecting her when she tries to approach Rhoda.

"Are you okay?" she asks, when Jasmine is safely penned up and examining the table scraps.

Rhoda hums something that isn't quite an affirmative. She's visibly trying to think of a way to ask something - probably about the pellet that she's still rolling between her fingers - but she seems to be having a lot of trouble figuring out the words she wants. "I...this is food? Like the...paste I ate before?" she manages eventually.

"It's food for animals; it's hard to make sure they get the right things in their food without something like this, and it doesn't bother them the same way it would bother a person," she reassures.

That isn't what she meant. Not exactly. (Although it's good to know it doesn't bother the animals.) She tries to figure out better words. "Wouldn't it be...less of a waste of resources? You- said something about it being better for Pradnakt to not eat things she liked less?"

"It's not hard to make sure you both have things you like. And even if it was it would be worth doing." She sounds - not annoyed, quite, but firm in a way reminiscent of it.

She flinches at that. "Sorry," she murmurs reflexively, not entirely sure what she's apologising for. Except, perhaps: "...for still not understanding things."

She softens. "It's not your fault. But - it would be very bad of us to treat someone that way, okay? It was very bad of them to treat you that way. And we're not going to do that; we don't want to, not even a little."

"Oh," Rhoda says, looking at the pellet in her hand again for a moment. She can't quite believe that it was bad to be treated that way, but she can almost believe that Pradnakt and Daisy don't want to. (She's pretty sure they wouldn't put this much effort into not doing that just to suddenly turn around and do it. The thought of everything they're doing is still a little scary.) "Okay," she agrees quietly, but it doesn't sound like agreement just for the sake of agreement. Sounds more like she's still thinking it over.

"Okay." She nods. "You can go ahead and watch the rest of the sunset; that's everything here, and watering the garden isn't that interesting."

"If you're sure?" Rhoda has to check.

"Yeah, go on," she says, amused, making a gentle shooing motion. "Enjoy it."

Rhoda flashes her a quick smile and heads outside to scale the tree again.

Pradnakt is already up on the roof, and grins when Rhoda comes into view.

She smiles back shyly and gives a slight nod as she settles into the tree to watch.